walking my son through what nelson mandela had gone through. i thought, you know, hopefully what it teaches everybody is to have the ability -- if nelson mandela could put aside three decades or more of hostility, of violence, of just what he had to go through and what the people of south africa had to go through just to be treated remotely equally, if he can do that, can't we in our either every day lives or also in the political discussions we have have a little bit more agreeability and a little bit less personal agreeability as we go about doing it. i do think it will be an emotional moment for the president. this is a singular figure quite frankly in world history thad we will essentially be saying good-bye to and marking the remarkable life of. >> robert makes a very important point. yet politics has not been absent in the days since mr. mandela's passing, kate. i think what had happened in some corners of the conservative blogosphere, twittersphere -- i'm not from the 20th century. please don't ask me to use these words. on his facebook